Nemaha Uplift Province

This description of the Nemaha Uplift Province is from the
U. S. Geological Survey
1995 National Assessment of United States Oil and Gas Resources (available
on CD-ROM from the U.S.G.S. as Digital Data Series DDS-30, Release 2).

Nemaha Uplift Province

by Ronald R. Charpentier

Introduction

The Nemaha Uplift Province extends from southeastern Nebraska to
south-central Oklahoma. It consists of 23 counties; all boundaries of
the province follow county boundaries. The province is about 450 mi
long (north-south) by 110 mi wide (east-west) and has an area
of 16,100 sq mi.

Petroleum exploration in the Nemaha Uplift Province began before the
turn of the century. Gas was discovered in Cowley County, Kans., as
early as 1902. The first discovery larger than 1 MMBOE was in 1903 in
Cowley County, Kans. (Dexter field). More than 45,000 wells have been
drilled in the province and 194 fields larger than 1 MMBOE have been
discovered. Discovered resources as of the end of 1990 have been more
than 2.4 BBO and over 6.1 TCFG. Among the largest fields in the
province are Oklahoma City field (more than 750 MMBO and more than 2.4
TCFG), in Cleveland and Oklahoma Counties, Okla.; El Dorado field (more
than 300 MMBO), in Butler County, Kans.; and Crescent-Lovell field (more
than 850 BCFG), in Kingfisher and Logan Counties, Okla.

The plays were erected for the Nemaha Uplift Province primarily by
grouping the reservoir rocks by age. Thus, the reservoirs and prospects
in the pre-Woodford Paleozoic rocks are in the Pre-Woodford Paleozoic
Play, except for those significantly below the top of the Arbuckle
Group, which are in play the Internal Arbuckle/Reagan Play. Woodford
Shale reservoirs are part of a regional unconventional play, the
Woodford/Chattanooga/Arkansas Novaculite of Midcontinent Play, described
under the Anadarko Basin Province. The Pennsylvanian and Permian
reservoirs are divided into two plays by primary trap type. The
Pennsylvanian-Permian Structural Play includes Pennsylvanian or Permian
reservoirs or prospects with structural or combination traps. The
Pennsylvanian Stratigraphic Play includes Pennsylvanian, primarily but
not exclusively Desmoinesian, reservoirs with stratigraphic traps.
Another play assessed within the Nemaha Uplift Province is the
Precambrian Midcontinent Rift System Play. Coal-bed gas resources were
not assessed for this province.

Acknowledgments

Scientists affiliated with the American Association of Petroleum
Geologists and from various State geological surveys contributed
significantly to play concepts and definitions. Their contributions are
gratefully acknowledged.